Collective marks and guarantee or certification marks

Collective marks and guarantee or certification marks are marks that groups of people can obtain the right to use. Users must comply with the provisions applicable to the use of the mark.

What is a common mark?

A collective mark is a collective trademark:

  • Common mark for use by members of an association or sports federation
  • Stamps on organic products
  • Eco-labels

Examples of common marks

Graphical representation of a circular scale, adorned with a grain axis, showing the degree of coarseness in bread products from 51% to 75%.

Bread scale coarseness 51-75%

Common trademark for flour and cereal-based foodstuffs, bread, pastries and confectionery. Reg. no. 329028

Black and white figure of a gear wheel with three hammers in the center and a bow at the bottom with the text MESTER.

Master mark

Common mark for services within, among others, construction activities. Reg. no. 520470

Godkjent av dyrevernalliansen written in green letters in a circle, with a stylized green tick in the middle.

Approved by the Animal Welfare Alliance

Common trademark registered for various types of food. Reg. no. 307613

Black and white figure of a stylized swan surrounded by a circle. Above the circle is the text MILJØMERKET, and below the circle is the text SVANEMERKET.

The Nordic Swan Ecolabel

Common label for various textiles, printed matter, paint, food and drink, construction activities, etc. Reg. No. 272123

TRYGT HYTTEKJØP written in block letters above a horizontal line. Below the line is a three-dimensional figure of a house with the text HYTTEPRODUSENTENE written in block letters directly below.

Safe cabin purchase

Common mark for buildings, construction activities and architectural planning. Reg. no. 323981

HEALTH EAST written in black block letters on a light background. Between the words intersect three shaded circles, placed in a vertical formation, two shaded circles and one black circle in a horizontal formation.

Health East

Common mark for the regional health authorities. Reg. no. 213848

Who can use a collective mark?

A common mark must be able to be used by all members of an association. The mark must be able to distinguish the members' goods and services from the goods and services of other businesses .

An association or other association of manufacturers, service providers or other traders, as well as legal subjects under public law, can obtain the exclusive right to use such a mark for their goods and services.

Guarantee or certification mark

A guarantee or certification mark should show that goods and services have been checked or certified with regard to, for example, materials, production method or quality. The mark must be able to distinguish goods and services that have been controlled from goods and services that have not been subject to such control.

Government bodies, foundations, companies and anyone else can obtain the exclusive right to use such a mark. However, the owner of the mark cannot himself run a business with sales of the goods or services to which the control applies.

Examples of guarantee and control marks

ASC logo with figure showing three fish in a circle above open hands

Stichting Aquaculture Stewardship Council Foundation

Guarantee or control mark for fish products and services. Reg. no. 1739486

MICROBIOME.info FRIENDLY written in black letters around a circle, with a figure of microbes in the middle.

MICROBIOME.info FRIENDLY

Guarantee or control mark for chemicals used in industry, non-medical cosmetics and pharmaceutical, medical and veterinary preparations. Reg. No. 1609992

Green check mark with the text TILLATT I NORGE LOTTERITILSYNET written on two lines in black block letters next to it.

Allowed in Norway The Gaming Authority

Guarantee or control mark for gambling activities. Reg. no. 333169

Registered collective marks and guarantee and control marks

Until 1 March 2023, "joint marks" was a collective term for the two types of marks. In our register, older trademarks will therefore only have the indication "collective trademark".

Provisions for use of the marks

In order to obtain registration of this type of mark, there must be associated provisions that apply to the use of the mark. The provisions must contain the following information:

  1. who has the right to use the mark
  2. the conditions for membership in the association
  3. the terms of use of the brand, including sanctions
  4. the brand owner's obligations to enforce liability against anyone who uses the brand in violation of the provisions
  5. the trademark holder's rights and obligations towards the users, including the right to control, possibly by specific control bodies

If the mark is a guarantee or certification mark, point 2 does not apply.

If the provisions are changed after registration, the amended provisions must be sent to the Norwegian Industrial Property Office for registration and publishing.

How do you apply for a collective mark or guarantee or certification mark?

To apply for a collective mark or a guarantee or control mark, you submit an application to the Norwegian Industrial Property Office. It is not possible to use our application guide to apply for these marks.

How much does it cost?

The application fee for registration in one product or service class is NOK 4 000.

If you wish to apply for protection of the mark in several classes, you must pay an additional fee of NOK 1 650 per class.

What do you wish to do?

Read more about Start application

Start application

You apply for a collective mark or a guarantee and control mark via Altinn. The link goes directly to a page where you must log in.